Golf Mark 4 burning oil

SlyRax

Hi guys,

I've a 99 Golf Mark 4 82000 miles and it's drinking 2-3 litres of oil a month :-(.
It's also running very rough. It starts fine in the morning but will cut out if I let my foot off the throttle and when I slow down coming to lights or anything. It's also been stalling when I'm driving, but starts again cause car is moving, will completely knock out revs 0 then jump start itself again. doesn't sound too healthy when ticking over either kind of sputters.

There's no leaks (no oil in my driveway)
No smoke except if I free wheel down hill then accelerates I'll get a lot of white smoke.
Recently been serviced.

No idea where to start here and I don't want to get robbed by a mechanic.
Need to pass my NCT soon too.


Please help

mvpr

A dirty throttle body might explain the cutting out when coming to a stop. I used to drive the same car - would cut out when changing gear. Pretty frightening when you're going from 4th to 5th! Needs attention.

We have two of these cars, one with 125k miles, the other bout 60k, and both drink oil. They just arent great engines.

Options are:

1. Find a replacement engine
2. Get the engine refurbished
3. Just keep topping her up with oil (should keep driving for years)

Apparently getting the engine refurbished isnt always successful. I was gona put a replacement engine in ours instead, but she just keeps going anyway.

NCT-wise, our car with 125k sailed through despite this problem, well under in the emissions test. I would advise putting it through. If it fails, then do something about it.

Best of luck

SlyRax

Thanks for the advice.

Yeah I've heard a lot that golfs love drinking oil.

It's pretty scary when i'm doing 100km on the motorway and the engine suddenly stops cuts out then jumps back to life, feels like one day it's going to stop and come through the firewall and hit me in the face

mvpr

I would advise gettin it sorted soon as so - having the throttle body cleaned is not an expensive job. Probably €30-€40. You say the car was recently serviced. The mechanic should really have picked up on this, unless it only started after.

I'm assuming your Golf is a 1.4 AHW engine code...?

SlyRax

Was happening before the service too

yep 1.4 16v

crosstownk

SlyRax wrote: »

No smoke except if I free wheel down hill then accelerates I'll get a lot of white smoke.

By freewheeling do you mean with the engine at idle or with the clutch engaged and the gearbox driving the engine (engine braking). If it's the latter, then you have the classic symptoms of worn valve stem oil seals.

SlyRax

hmmmm been a few weeks but nearly sure it was with the car in gear cause I never free wheel in nuetral. have you any idea how much you'd be looking at for new stem seals???

SlyRax

Would stem seals cause the car to run rough as well?

crosstownk

SlyRax wrote: »

Would stem seals cause the car to run rough as well?

Not directly. But your spark plugs may be contaminated from excess oil getting into the cylinder. But I think it's more likely that your rough running maybe a different fault.

No idea on the cost of replacing stem seals - but it won't be cheap as there's a reasonable amount of labour involved.

michaelanthony

Patch it up and get rid of it.

SlyRax

Thats the plan, but I don't wanna sting someone with a car that isn't safe. If I could stop it cutting out and get the oil consumtion down I'd get rid of it.

mvpr

michaelanthony wrote: »

Patch it up and get rid of it.

Could you live with yourself after doing this?

You might argue that if people are stupid enough to buy a car without having it checkout out properly, theyre asking for trouble.

I couldnt sell my car for €4k knowing it was a wreck. Thats just me though...!

SlyRax

Yeah starting to feel I got stung with this so I don't wanna keep the cycle going. I'll get her fixed then I think it's time to part ways. I've got 1200 together over the last few weeks as my "fix this thing once and for all kitty". So I'd rather take the hit on the money than sting some poor fool.

domania

The cutting out thing is similar to a problem I have with my 1.4L Ibiza (same engine as Golf. The throttle body breather gets clogged with a sort of mayonaise like gunk that needs to be cleaned out at every service (ask them to do it as part of the service).

The easiest way to check that it is done is to take the cover off the air filter and look at the breather valve. If the valve is covered in gunk then the breather needs to be cleaned. Get your local garage to do it. Especially if you just had it serviced. It should only take about 15 mins to do.

junkyard

You'll find it next to impossible to find a good secondhand engine, as someone else said they're just not a good engine. Do you hear a tappet sound when you rev it? If you do it's more than likely the engine is your problem. I had to replace an engine in a Bora recently with only 50k on it, despite all the hype VW's aren't what they used to be.

Earth Worm Jim

SlyRax wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've a 99 Golf Mark 4 82000 miles and it's drinking 2-3 litres of oil a month :-(.
It's also running very rough. It starts fine in the morning but will cut out if I let my foot off the throttle and when I slow down coming to lights or anything. It's also been stalling when I'm driving, but starts again cause car is moving, will completely knock out revs 0 then jump start itself again. doesn't sound too healthy when ticking over either kind of sputters.

There's no leaks (no oil in my driveway)
No smoke except if I free wheel down hill then accelerates I'll get a lot of white smoke.
Recently been serviced.

No idea where to start here and I don't want to get robbed by a mechanic.
Need to pass my NCT soon too.


Please help

The stalling and eractic reving sounds like its your air mass metre, though it could be caused by a dirty trottle body aswell.

Common problems on the 1.4 are worn stem seals , blown head gasket and worn piston rings - all expensive to fix, some say worn pistons = nackered engine.
I am in the process of fixing a similar problem on a 99 1.4 golf 58k = oil pissing out of the exhaust.
Narrowed it down to the stem seals, and to fix the engine has to be stripped down, cylinder head comes off (check for cracks and probably skim) the stem seals come with a head gasket kit, but to replace you need special tools (valve spring compressor, torque wrench, jacks etc) and a lot of mechanical experience.

Also while doing this it is advisable to replace the head gasket, timing belt and water pump (oil,coolant,plugs and filters)

Its not a handy fix but a good vw mechanic could sort it a lot handier (without taking the cylinder head off) but it will still cost a few bob.

Buying a second hand engine is not a good move as the engine you buy could be worse than your engine, you need to recondition your engine or buy a reconditioned engine.

Check this link out http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=9173&hl=

groupb

Another case of "if everything in life was as relabile as a volkswagen". Sell it to some idiot who believes vw make relabile cars. The amount of abuse fiat & alfa get on boards from people who do'nt have them is only matched by the amount of people posting with problems on audis & vw's.

crosstownk

groupb wrote: »

the amount of people posting with problems on audis & vw's.

At least it gives me something to do

But you're right - the perception that VWs are reliable is far from the truth. It all stems from the 'reliablity' of the original Beetle that VW had decades to develop.

MrMonk21

I know its been a couple of years before you posted this, but how did you fix this problem in the end and how much did it cost.

Would much appreciate a reply

Cheers

colsers22

Hi, I hope I didn't buy your poxy Golf!!
I recently bought a MK4 99 Golf 1.4 with 50k miles on the clock..
So far it's been running smoothly, however, the car is absolutely drinking oil.
I've brought it to the dealer's attention and they are currently monitoring the situation. They topped the car up the last time I brought it in.
I drove about 700 miles at the weekend and the dip stick is again bone dry.
I'm still within my warrenty at the VW dealership where I purchased. What should I do now? I am thinking I would just like to hand it back, but I do really love the car and would hate to have to buy another one.
Hoping someone can help!! Thanks..

Stevie Dakota

Keep it and eventually (sooner rather than later) you will kill it. The 1.4 is a very soft engine. If under warranty get it fixed, which means a fair bit of engine work, or get them to take it back.

Lizzykins

colsers22 wrote: »

Hi, I hope I didn't buy your poxy Golf!!
I recently bought a MK4 99 Golf 1.4 with 50k miles on the clock..
So far it's been running smoothly, however, the car is absolutely drinking oil.
I've brought it to the dealer's attention and they are currently monitoring the situation. They topped the car up the last time I brought it in.
I drove about 700 miles at the weekend and the dip stick is again bone dry.
I'm still within my warrenty at the VW dealership where I purchased. What should I do now? I am thinking I would just like to hand it back, but I do really love the car and would hate to have to buy another one.
Hoping someone can help!! Thanks..

Sounds like the trouble I had with my 00 Focus with 55k miles on the clock. Cost me a king's ransom to get fixed. At least yours is still under warranty. My problem was worn piston rings.

Plug

SlyRax wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've a 99 Golf Mark 4 82000 miles and it's drinking 2-3 litres of oil a month :-(.
It's also running very rough. It starts fine in the morning but will cut out if I let my foot off the throttle and when I slow down coming to lights or anything. It's also been stalling when I'm driving, but starts again cause car is moving, will completely knock out revs 0 then jump start itself again. doesn't sound too healthy when ticking over either kind of sputters.

There's no leaks (no oil in my driveway)
No smoke except if I free wheel down hill then accelerates I'll get a lot of white smoke.
Recently been serviced.

No idea where to start here and I don't want to get robbed by a mechanic.
Need to pass my NCT soon too.


Please help

See is it leaking at the spark plugs, thats a common problem I think. Easy fix aswel. Your car shouldn't be buring oil at that kind of low milage.

colsers22

Thanks for the replies.. I'm going into them soon to get it sorted. Pain in the hoop. I replaced my 01 Clio for this. The Clio never gave me a days bother. I never had to even check the oil. The levels barely changed.
I'll update with how I get on :eek:

japasca

I have a 02 1.4 golf and she like a bit of oil also. Maybe a liter every 2000 miles. I know its not as bad as yours but its still concerning when i was used to never having to check my levels at all!!
Apparently high speed motorway driving will cause the MK4 to use allot of oil.
I noticed this first after i got it serviced. The dealer put in Castrol longlife oil which is 5w-40 as far as i can remember.
I put in 15w-40 high mileage oil as this is supposed to be good for the seals in engines with more ware (My Mk4 has 50,000 miles by the way) and it has seemed to slow down the oil burning.
I was thinking of selling it before this turned into a bigger problem.
Let me know how you got on?

Wibbler

SlyRax wrote: »

Hi guys,
It's also running very rough. It starts fine in the morning but will cut out if I let my foot off the throttle and when I slow down coming to lights or anything.

As others have suggested the Throttle Body might need cleaning out. Both my own Golf and my wife's have had this problem recently. I still have to get mine cleaned out, but a quick clean solved the problem for the wife's car.

The classic symptom is the engine cutting out just as you depress the clutch to change down for a corner. Of course, the power steering goes when the engine cuts out so it always happens at the worst time :-) It seems to happen in my car once or twice every two days, especially when the engine is cold.

dingding

Had a 1999 1.4 from new. traded it in after a couple of years and found it was using a litre of oil every 1000 Miles.

The dealer said it was normal and when I looked at the user manual, it spoke about topping the oil up by a couple of litres every 1000 miles.

Must have been a problem with this.

daveharnett

domania wrote: »

The cutting out thing is similar to a problem I have with my 1.4L Ibiza (same engine as Golf. The throttle body breather gets clogged with a sort of mayonaise like gunk that needs to be cleaned out at every service (ask them to do it as part of the service).

Domania, is there oil on the floor of your air box? sounds like excessive blow-by.

OP, I'd agree with domania - check if your throttle body is very dirty. Also, maybe have a look at the distributor cap and rotor arm - make sure they are secure and not too corroded. Those are two possible causes for the rouhness and cutting out which are easy to check and if needs be fix.

Bobo78

Hi, since i see that most of you know a lot about VW cars, i need to ask you something about my Polo that i had 2 years ago. The problem was the same as most of the people have with Golf's it was burning a lot of oil. I had to top up every 10 days and i was doing only about 100 to 120 miles per week.
I was topping up the oil for next two months and when eventually the car lost about 60 percent of its power and it just didn't have any power to pull, it would take about 40 seconds to come to 50 kph. As well engine would shake a lot and it would sound very rough.
When i took it to the mechanic and when he checked it out, there was some bit of oil on the spark plugs and he suggested me to get a new engine.
Would anyone be able to tell me what was wrong with it and why did it have oil on the spark plugs?
In advance thanks.

woop

was running on three cylinders mate-hence less powere and the vibration- not balanced

theres a few reasons for a wet spark plug-however if its oil Id say shes fairly buggered
if its the 98 type ones I heard of valves dropping- this allows oil into where the petrol is combusted
also perished valve stem oil seals allow oil into the cylinder
Id say a combination of both in youre case started with the seal then the valve
this just happens from simple wear on the rubber seals

worn piston rings also cause oil to be let into the cylinder from the crankcase and generally its worth getting a new engine in this case also

but if he thinks its bad enough for a new engine
get someone else for a second opinion and if youre that curious get him to pull it apart

Ferris

colsers22 wrote: »

Hi, I hope I didn't buy your poxy Golf!!
I recently bought a MK4 99 Golf 1.4 with 50k miles on the clock..
So far it's been running smoothly, however, the car is absolutely drinking oil.
I've brought it to the dealer's attention and they are currently monitoring the situation. They topped the car up the last time I brought it in.
I drove about 700 miles at the weekend and the dip stick is again bone dry.
I'm still within my warrenty at the VW dealership where I purchased. What should I do now? I am thinking I would just like to hand it back, but I do really love the car and would hate to have to buy another one.
Hoping someone can help!! Thanks..

That car needs serious engine work, if not a new engine. Time to hand it back. An idea is to bring it into them every 500 miles for them to top it up with oil, that way you can prove the excessive oil consumption.